Current status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by John Swinney on 2 April 2015
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the names of the special advisers in post; what their responsibilities are; what their pay bands are; how many special advisers are in each pay band, and what the total salary cost of employing special advisers was in 2013-14.
Special Advisers are appointed in accordance with Part 1 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 by the First Minister as a special adviser for the purpose of providing assistance to the Scottish Ministers.
The *total costs of the special adviser team of 14 special advisers employed during the financial year 2013-14 was £1,022,396.
Following the change in First Minister 11 special advisers remained in post. With the appointment of Jeanette Campbell and Kate Higgins on 1 April 2015, there are currently 13 special advisers. The special advisers and their specific responsibilities are as follows:
| Name | Role | Appointed |
| Liz Lloyd | Chief of Staff to the First Minister including the co-ordination of the Special Adviser team Senior Special Adviser on the Constitution Responsible for the First Minister’s Strategic programme in Government Special Adviser for Culture, Europe and External Affairs (temp) | 30 January 2012 |
| Noel Dolan | Senior Special Adviser to the First Minister FMQs, Policy Advice to the First Minister | 26 May 2011 |
| Stuart Nicolson | Head of Communications Senior Political Spokesperson for the First Minister | 26 May 2011 |
| Colin McAllister | Head of Policy and Specia Adviser to the Deputy First Minister Senior Special Adviser for Finance and for Local Government FMQs, Programme for Government | 3 October 2012 |
| Campbell Gunn | Deputy Spokesperson for the First Minister and Communications Adviser | 8 July 2013 |
| Ross Ingebrigtsen | Deputy Spokesperson for the First Minister and Communications Adviser Strategic communications planning | 20 January 2014 |
| Alexander Anderson | Special Adviser for Infrastructure, Investment and the Cities and for Rural Affairs, Food and Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform | 8 October 2012 |
| Malcolm Fleming | Senior Special Adviser for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism and for Fair Work, Skills and Training | 25 July 2011 |
| John MacInnes | Political and Media Research Support for First Minister’s QuestionsSupport to Communications Special Advisers | 3 June 2011 |
| Davie Hutchison | Special Adviser for Health, Wellbeing and Sport FoI Legislation lead | 8 June 2011 |
| John McFarlane | Special Adviser for Justice Parliamentary Business including liaison with the Parliamentary Group | 26 May 2011 |
| Jeanette Campbell | Special Adviser for Social Justice, Communities and Pensioners’ Rights | 1 April 2015 |
| Kate Higgins | Special Adviser for Education and Lifelong Learning | 1 April 2015 |
The special adviser pay bands and ranges and the number of special advisers within each pay band currently in place are:
| Pay Band | Current Pay Range | Number of Special Advisers |
| 1 | £39,445 - £52,904 | 9 |
| 2 | £51,041 - £67,709 | 1 |
| 3 | £65,017 - £83,963 | 3 |
| 3 (premium) | £83,549 - £100,942 | 0 |
| 4 | £86,965 - £104,462 | 0 |
*Total Costs include salary, ERNIC and employer pension contributions. Total costs figures have been converted into 2015-16 prices to adjust for inflation using HM Treasury GDP deflators, as at 18 March 2015. The total costs figure for 2014-15 is not yet available.